Appleseed, Book 1: The Promethean Challenge, Vol. 1 Book

I'm a huge fan of the new Appleseed CG movies directed by Shinji Aramaki and I had to pick up the original manga series that started it all. Both are not exact copies of each other which is great and the manga seems to take more time in expanding the conflicts between the bioroid council and the humans.

Deunan and her partner/lover Briareos have already moved on after the war as they settle in safe yet desolate parts of the wartorn city. Hitomi is sent to find them and bring them to the utopia of Olympus supposedly to settle in with the rest of the population but the true reasons lie under the surface as Athena, the prime minister of Olympus in a way, zeroes in on Deunan herself.

There's a lot intrigue here coupled with great action and effects, some genuinely funny moments due to some great dialogue and enough future tech that'd make any sc-fi lover happy.

I'm glad I finally got to check out Masamune Shirow's work. His artistry is breathtaking in the way he's designed his cities and the biosuits. I love the character expressions to go with the snappy dialogue at times and I couldn't help flipping through the pages as the story played like it's own movie in my head.

This is a great addition to any Appleseed fan's shelf. I'm definitely going to get my hands on the rest of the series and also check out Shirow's more famous manga, Ghost in the Shell.